This is Leviticus, so this instruction is given after someone has been in an “impure” state, and needs to move to a “pure” state. Impure/pure tamei/tahor/impure/pure. Disease/health/disease/health.

There’s a whole ritual for the leper, the one who needs to be separated from the camp, so he can be cleansed, cured, brought back into the community. And it involves shaving all his hair off. Torah may have thought that the priest could diagnose, treat and cure disease but some diseases don’t work that way. Some just grab you and separate you and never give you back. Like cancer.

Last night I witnessed “Shave for the Brave” at the 2014 Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR), the Reform movement’s professional rabbinic association. For those who don’t know, there was a little boy named Sam. Superman Sam…